Former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City after appearing at a federal appeals court (Picture: Getty Images)
Ex-President Donald Trump spent 45 minutes blasting his numerous sexual harassment accusers – then said that ‘we’re doing great with women’.
Trump on Friday appeared at a New York City federal appeals court, where his defense team fought to overturn a 2023 verdict that he sexually abused advice columnist E Jean Carroll.
After attending the hearing, he held a press conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan and again claimed that Carroll’s story that he assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room ‘never happened’.
‘She made up a story and fabricated 100%,’ said Trump of Carroll. ‘I would have had no interest in meeting her in any way, shape, or form.’
Courtroom sketch shows ex-President Donald Trump’s (right) attorney John Sauer (left) presenting arguments as E Jean Carroll (second from right) looks on in Manhattan federal court (Picture: AP)
The Republican nominee recounted a series of past allegations of sexual misconduct against him, at times using strong and graphic rhetoric.
‘She said… we became very intimate,’ Trump said of another accuser. ‘She said I was making out with her. And then after 15 minutes… that I grabbed her at a certain part, and that was when she had enough.’
He continued: ‘I start kissing her and making out with her. What are the chances of that happening?
‘I know you’re going to say it’s a terrible thing to say, but it couldn’t have happened, and … she would not have been the chosen one.’
Former President Donald Trump (center) following a press conference in the lobby of Trump Tower on Friday (Picture: EPA)
A civil jury last year found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll in 1996 and awarded her $5million.
While departing after his fiery remarks, Trump was asked if they would help him win over female voters who may be deciding between him and his presidential election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
‘We’re doing great with women,’ Trump told the Daily Mail.
Trump during the presser had let his attorney Alina Habba speak about how he stands with women.
Former President Donald Trump (right) listens as his attorney Alina Habba (left) speaks at a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City (Picture: Shutterstock)
‘As a woman who has stood with President Trump, who has spent extensive time with President Trump and with his beautiful family, I will tell you that is not President Trump, and I completely am disgusted by what I have seen happen to this person, his family, and the Trump organization that we stand in right now,’ Habba said.
‘You must vote Donald Trump back in because as an attorney, as a woman, as a mother, our future of this country depends on it.’
Trump held the conference shortly before a favorable turn in another one of his multiple legal battles.
On Friday afternoon, Justice Juan Merchan delayed his sentencing in the hush money criminal trial from September 18 to November 26, after the election. Merchan noted ‘the unique time frame this matter currently finds itself in’.
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